Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

[Snoopy01]

Just got NHL 24 and one glaring thing I noticed that makes NHL 23 much better (with all it's pitfalls) is when carrying the puck up ice, all you need to do is go along the boards. The AI either forwards or defensemen, just skate, and you can easily go around them as you hit the opponents blue line. Once you hit the off zone face off area, it is almost a break away.

You can do this with your forwards or defensemen.

Is it me or am I that good in AllStar and Superstar modes with
AI Learning at 6/6
CPU Difficulty Adjustment: 5 and above
CPU Strategy Adjustment: 4 and above

At least in NHL 23, the opposing AI would try and hit you along the boards or choke up the middle of the ice.

[Fiddy]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

Man, in 23 and past editions I could get the game to play somewhat even with me in terms of time on attack, CPU all over me at times..

Something happened this year after that very first patch, but I completely dominate the puck, no matter what I do slider wise.. I even have the CPU with skating (speed/acceleration) advantages to help with that and overall it actually don't help very much, while it does a tad but not to my overall liking. That includes maxed AI Learning and CPU Difficulty, along with maxed CPU Strats.

To combat the above I actually have to use my go to method in franchise mode and just sim 2 periods and play the 3rd period to get any enjoyment out of this years game.

I would go back to 23, but the lack of replays for presentation just kills it for me.

Most frustrated I've been with this game ever.

[The EVHL]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

And this is why I stick with NHL 20. There hasn’t been a post 20 game that has had the AI even remotely close to as tenacious on the puck as that year. With the frostbite change came the “let’s make the AI stand still and do nothing to appease the HUT crowd” era of AI play.

I got into a rut in NHL 22 and couldn’t figure out why the game so amazingly easy and boring on superstar. It clicked instantly once I went back to 20. The players simply apply pressure on the puck and to a fault I should add. 20’s downfall is the overaggression which was swiftly swung to the current status of the AI simply having zero interest in removing you from the puck.

[JBlaze78]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

I will just say it, Frostbite is a garbage engine for sports gaming...

[The EVHL]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

I will just say it, Frostbite is a garbage engine for sports gaming...

It certainly hasn’t done this series any favors. I’m not a developer, don’t claim to know the first thing about it, but I am enough of an NHL vet to notice subtle changes in gameplay year to year. Believe me when I say that the AI difference from 20 to anything after is astronomical. It’s actually mind blowing.

If you’re a slider guy and have seemingly been in a rut for years now, I really suggest you try NHL 20 out again. The tenaciousness of the AI make balancing the game via sliders so much easier. Of course, the Ben Ross/Sean Rammer special under the hood secret sauce EA dev sliders (known as a bezerk mode around here) still exist in this game and like to tell you how you should play the game despite giving you a slider suite, but a few sliders cycles and power cycles usually does the trick.

Anyway, if anyone is as crazy as me and is willing to put in the effort to create a “sandbox league” and your own world, NHL 20 (or 19) is the game for you. The transition and in-zone play actually flows like hockey due to the pressure the AI put on you. The one area they lack is in the NZ. I think NHL 21 or 22 addressed the NZ gaps, but at the expense of removing the offensive AI’s intelligence to center drive the net on a break-in.

Actually, I’ve noticed in games since 20 that the defensive AI didn’t get better, the offensive AI just got impressively worse. Off-puck movement is non-existent, can’t center drive off a NZ break-in, it’s like shockingly bad once you go back and play NHL 20.

As someone who coaches hockey and has a passion for the game and the “X’s and O’s” that come with coaching, there isn’t a comparison between the pre-frostbite titles and the frostbite titles from a hockey standpoint. With the right sliders and rosters, NHL 20 is almost a passable hockey sim while NHL 21-24 are “stand around” simulators with dumbed down AI on both sides of the puck which in a weird way makes the game feel “better” defensively when really the devs just stifled the offensive puck support and made goalie limb reactions robotic compared to their pre-frostbite counterparts who actually have a ton of dynamic reactions and results to their game.

[stlgamer09]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

Man, in 23 and past editions I could get the game to play somewhat even with me in terms of time on attack, CPU all over me at times..

Something happened this year after that very first patch, but I completely dominate the puck, no matter what I do slider wise.. I even have the CPU with skating (speed/acceleration) advantages to help with that and overall it actually don't help very much, while it does a tad but not to my overall liking. That includes maxed AI Learning and CPU Difficulty, along with maxed CPU Strats.

To combat the above I actually have to use my go to method in franchise mode and just sim 2 periods and play the 3rd period to get any enjoyment out of this years game.

I would go back to 23, but the lack of replays for presentation just kills it for me.

Most frustrated I've been with this game ever.

Which is crazy cause I use your sliders and I get hit all the time. I bumped up the CPU Aggression

[MiracleMet718]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

What difficulty do you guys play on? I play on Superstar with CPU Difficulty up to 6 and this was the most challenging game I’ve played in a few years (last patch or two toned it down a bit unfortunately). I found 22 and 23 way too easy to dominate.

[The EVHL]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

What difficulty do you guys play on? I play on Superstar with CPU Difficulty up to 6 and this was the most challenging game I’ve played in a few years (last patch or two toned it down a bit unfortunately). I found 22 and 23 way too easy to dominate.

I find 24 to be “challenging” because your offensive AI prefer to stand still and do nothing. Worst offensive AI I’ve ever seen, makes the game a chore.

[MiracleMet718]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

I find 24 to be “challenging” because your offensive AI prefer to stand still and do nothing. Worst offensive AI I’ve ever seen, makes the game a chore.

Offensive AI hasn’t been good in 10 years. I didn’t play 14, but 13 was great and I know everyone raves about 14. You could actually cycle the puck and setup a powerplay. I hate that they added the 1-3-1 and it’s pretty much useless since guys never setup in the right position as they prefer to skate at you instead of staying in their spots.

I know this year was animations and basic gameplay, but I hope they revamp the AI so it plays smarter and goes to the open areas rather than just a location on the ice, just like how 13/14 did.

[The EVHL]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

Offensive AI hasn’t been good in 10 years. I didn’t play 14, but 13 was great and I know everyone raves about 14. You could actually cycle the puck and setup a powerplay. I hate that they added the 1-3-1 and it’s pretty much useless since guys never setup in the right position as they prefer to skate at you instead of staying in their spots.

I know this year was animations and basic gameplay, but I hope they revamp the AI so it plays smarter and goes to the open areas rather than just a location on the ice, just like how 13/14 did.

21 was the year where the AI fell off the cliff. 20 is an extremely good game with the right sliders and attribute adjustments imo. I have fallen in love with hockey gaming again via NHL 20 and my EVHL project.

But yes, I agree that the AI need some serious TLC. Like I said, 21 was the year they decided to remove the AI’s fundamental desire to want anything to do with the play or puck in general so the HUT kiddos could wiggle and glitch during their 1v1 ISO basketball showdown games.

[MiracleMet718]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

21 was the year where the AI fell off the cliff. 20 is an extremely good game with the right sliders and attribute adjustments imo. I have fallen in love with hockey gaming again via NHL 20 and my EVHL project.

But yes, I agree that the AI need some serious TLC. Like I said, 21 was the year they decided to remove the AI’s fundamental desire to want anything to do with the play or puck in general so the HUT kiddos could wiggle and glitch during their 1v1 ISO basketball showdown games.

I don’t think it was just that. They started the revamp of the skating that year and I think as such, it screwed with the AI. I enjoyed 21 to a certain extent, enough to play a few years of franchise, but I agree the AI started to decline and has gotten worse each year since. I don’t even think the strategies actually matter anymore.

[The EVHL]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

I don’t think it was just that. They started the revamp of the skating that year and I think as such, it screwed with the AI. I enjoyed 21 to a certain extent, enough to play a few years of franchise, but I agree the AI started to decline and has gotten worse each year since. I don’t even think the strategies actually matter anymore.

The RPM skating revamp was 19. The AI are definitely very active and aggressive on the puck for both 19 and 20.

21 was the year of frostbite and the year imo which the AI noticeably took a nosedive.

[canuck97]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

NHL 21 still was Ignite engine. 22 was the first frostbite NHL.

[The EVHL]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

NHL 21 still was Ignite engine. 22 was the first frostbite NHL.

You’re right on the frostbite thing for sure, thanks for the correction. I feel like I need to go back and play 21 now to see what the AI were doing in that game. I feel like that was the first year the AI took the nosedive but I also feel like it coincided with the frostbite release which was 22 so now I got myself confused haha.

[MiracleMet718]

Re: Defense don't even try to engage you as you go up ice

You’re right on the frostbite thing for sure, thanks for the correction. I feel like I need to go back and play 21 now to see what the AI were doing in that game. I feel like that was the first year the AI took the nosedive but I also feel like it coincided with the frostbite release which was 22 so now I got myself confused haha.

I still play my 21 franchise and it definitely plays better. It’s not great, but it was much better than 22 and 23 because the AI was decently challenging. I felt 22 and 23 were way too easy to score. 24 initially played very difficult and I was enjoying, but the last two tuners before the latest one hurt it a bit. The last tuner seemed to revert back a little bit and I’m having much better games on my sliders again.

AI still needs to be improved on both sides though to play smarter.